Classes and workshops are ongoing throughout the day.
Tickets include entrance to any classes within the time slot shown on your ticket, but space is limited.
During both ticket blocks, The DC Chocolate Festival will be screening a new documentary film, The War on Chocolate. 
Twenty years ago, the world’s biggest cocoa producers signed an agreement to end child slavery. Since then, the appalling abuse has only got worse. US lawyer Terry Collingsworth is working hard to bring the chocolate giants to justice and has dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery and human trafficking, and to fighting the food giants and their army of lawyers. Collingsworth is trying to convict Nestlé and Cargill of systematically exploiting children in Ivory Coast cocoa production. And now the case has finally reached the US Supreme Court. To prepare for the trial, Terry Collingsworth will gather more evidence. In Mali, he meets his six key witnesses before traveling on to Ivory Coast’s cocoa plantations, where a centre for the rehabilitation of enslaved children turns out to be as fake and empty as a movie set, supported by governments and NGOs, but unused and with no children in sight. All in the quest to keep the price of cocoa beans low.
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The Chocolate War is the third in the series of chocolate films directed by Miki Mistrati.

Check out our 2022 schedule below!

 Tasting Room

  • 11:00 - 11:45: Ben Rasmussen from Potomac Chocolate: Bean-to-Bar Crash Course: An introduction to bean-to-bar chocolate. Local chocolate maker Ben Rasmussen of Potomac Chocolate will discuss the process of making chocolate starting from the raw cacao seeds (aka cocoa beans) and how it's different  in process and intent from conventional industrially-produced chocolate.
  • 12:00 - 12:45: Haitian Hot Chocolate Demo by Gentile Senat of Les Chocolateries Askanya: 
  • 13:00 - 13:45: Party like it’s 2024 — the future of chocolate tasting is social (Estelle Tracy of 37Chocolates.com): Forget about eating chocolate alone in your home office, your favorite food wants to party! In this 45-min class — OK, party — you’ll learn why the future of chocolate is social and how to throw your own chocolate fiesta. Feeling introverted? Estelle Tracy will share resources to connect with like-minded chocophiles online, right in your PJs. And yes, you’ll party along with chocolate bars made by a new wave of chocolate-makers.
  • 14:30 - 15:15: Cacao and Meditation with Christina Kim from Secret Cacao Garden: Christina is a globe trotting cacao artisan who follows cacao spirit to connect with the earth and humans who reside on it. She will share cacao and wellness meditations she has learned along the way, blessed by shamans and producers of the cacao lineage of the Mayan, Chinchipe and Ashaninka lineage.”
  • 15:30 - 16:15: Make it Vegan! by Susan Brown from Mademoiselle Miel: Learn creative approaches to vegan chocolate, an industry increasing in sales at 12.3% annually, almost double the general vegan food sector. Samples will be provided!
  • 16:30 - 17:15: Forget the Chicken Soup--I Want Chocolate! Why Chocolate Stirs our Emotions and Comforts us in Times of Stress (Victoria Kichuk, Cocoa Beantown): From the moment we have teeth, someone, early in our life, fed us chocolate. From that time onward, it became a part of our lives through holidays, birthdays, celebrations, and more. Now, as we all looked for our own ways to navigate a global trauma event, chocolate sales soared. The power of chocolate to spread joy and bring comfort is more significant than ever before. From neurotransmitters and ingrained positive associations, to the all-consuming power of nostalgia, chocolate lovers will gain insight on the healing powers of chocolate and its mystical ability to connect people through time and space. Chocolate samples will be provided!

Auditorium

  • 11:00 - 12:00: Tanzania - How Bean to Bar Chocolate Flips the Script on African Cocoa (Brian LoBue - Kokoa Kamili) -  Historically, African cocoa beans have been the foundation source of bulk chocolate, often sourced via opaque layers of middlemen using dubious practices.  However, a growing number of African origins over the last 30 years have elevated quality to compete with other fine flavor origins in bean to bar chocolate.  Since 2013, Kokoa Kamili has worked closely with farmers, distributors, and chocolate makers to bring a country known mostly for Mount Kilimanjaro and safari trips to the forefront of the craft chocolate scene.  One of the founders will walk us through the ethics and sustainability of that journey and the impact bean to bar chocolate has had on the lives of Tanzanians where Kokoa Kamili operates.
  • 12:30 - 13:40: The Chocolate War: Film Screening - Twenty years ago, the world's biggest cocoa producers signed an agreement to end child slavery. Since then, the appalling abuse has only got worse. US lawyer Terry Collingsworth is working hard to bring the chocolate giants to justice and has dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery and human trafficking, and to fighting the food giants and their army of lawyers. Collingsworth is trying to convict Nestle and Cargill of systematically exploiting children in Ivory Coast cocoa production. And now the case has finally reached the US Supreme Court. To prepare for the trial, Terry Collingsworth will gather more evidence. In Mali, he meets his six key witnesses before traveling on to Ivory Coast's cocoa plantations, where a centre for the rehabilitation of enslaved children turns out to be as fake and empty as a movie set, supported by governments and NGOs, but unused and with no children in sight. All in the quest to keep the price of cocoa beans low.
  • 14:30 - 15:30: Trends in Chocolate: Past, Present and Future - Panel Discussion. Join Christopher Curtin (Eclat Chocolate), Saif Khan (Artisan Confections), Galo Pazmino (Pacari Chocolate), Ben Rasmussen (Potomac Chocolate), Kelly Roderer (Dark Matter Coffee/Sleep Walk Chocolateria), Marisol Slater (The Chocolate House DC), Estelle Tracy (37Chocolates.com), for an hour-long discussion the changes in the chocolate industry as well as share ideas for growth.
  • 16:00 - 17:10: The Chocolate War: Film Screening - Twenty years ago, the world's biggest cocoa producers signed an agreement to end child slavery. Since then, the appalling abuse has only got worse. US lawyer Terry Collingsworth is working hard to bring the chocolate giants to justice and has dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery and human trafficking, and to fighting the food giants and their army of lawyers. Collingsworth is trying to convict Nestle and Cargill of systematically exploiting children in Ivory Coast cocoa production. And now the case has finally reached the US Supreme Court. To prepare for the trial, Terry Collingsworth will gather more evidence. In Mali, he meets his six key witnesses before traveling on to Ivory Coast's cocoa plantations, where a centre for the rehabilitation of enslaved children turns out to be as fake and empty as a movie set, supported by governments and NGOs, but unused and with no children in sight. All in the quest to keep the price of cocoa beans low.